The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday placed a record-high of more than 1,500 people on a monitoring list in response to a recent confirmed case of German measles involving a China Airlines flight attendant.
“The female flight attendant lives in northern Taiwan and started experiencing fever, a runny nose, coughing and rashes on Saturday. On Wednesday it was confirmed she had German measles and she remains in quarantine,” CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.
Chuang said the stewardess could have contracted rubella between Feb. 21 and Feb. 28, either in Vietnam, Indonesia or Hong Kong, categorizing her case as an imported one.
Rubella can be transmitted by airborne droplets seven days before and after symptoms develop. It has an incubation period of between 14 and 21 days.
The flight attendant worked on six flights during her infectious period, including Flight CI116 and Flight CI117 traveling between Taoyuan and Fukuoka on March 8, Flights CI110 and CI111 between Taoyuan and Fukuoka on March 10 and March 11, and Flights CI753 and CI754 traveling between Taoyuan and Singapore on Friday and Saturday last week, the centers said.
Chuang said a total of 686 Taiwanese who had contact with the flight attendant, including passengers, her colleagues, family and medical personnel and patients who were at the hospital where she sought treatment, have been asked to monitor their physical conditions until April 11.
“However, the centers have only managed to contact 72 of the potentially exposed individuals thus far. The rest are urged to call the centers’ disease prevention toll-free hotline 1922 or contact a local health bureau if they exhibit any symptoms of rubella,” Chuang said.
The agency said it had also notified the 11 countries where the 872 foreign passengers who were on board the six flights come from via the International Health Regulations (IHR) Focal Point.
According to CDC statistics, there have been two confirmed cases of German measles in Taiwan this year, including one imported case and one local case.
The centers urged the public not to panic as more than 95 percent of people in the nation have been vaccinated against rubella or have gained immunity from past infection.
Nevertheless, pregnant women should be vigilant, the agency said, because German measles can lead to stillborn deaths, miscarriages and birth defects, including hearing impairment, glaucoma, small head size and heart disease.
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
RSS